WPIAL soccer coaches, players emphasize importance of multi-sport athletes

By means of:

Amani Clark-Bey

Sunday, June 30, 2024 | 1:32 PM

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Seneca Valley football coaches sat around the table in their coaches' room discussing a list of athletes on their roster and realized that many multi-sport athletes had decided not to play this season.

“There are a lot of kids who said they wanted to play basketball and football or focus on another sport,” head coach Ron Butschle said. “I can't blame a kid for doing that, but I often wonder where that pressure comes from?”

Butschle and his staff posted a statement on Facebook on June 14 saying multi-sport athletes are welcome to attend camp in August after losing many multi-sport athletes to other sports.

“I think parents and outside coaches need to understand that banning a child from playing multiple sports is a disservice to the child,” Butschle said. “We wanted to make it clear that if you show up in August, we will give you the same opportunity to compete and earn a spot.”

Spreading the message was a collaborative effort by the entire Seneca Valley coaching staff: “If you want to play football and compete this fall,” it read, “you will be welcomed with open arms and a football helmet, beginning with our remaining nine summer practices in July, or the official start of camp on August 5.”

Butschle said the Raiders' roster has been significantly reduced despite Seneca Valley being a Class 6A school.

“This year has been different in terms of numbers, and we're a 6A school and they're pretty low,” he said. “In January, during winter training, we're getting about 100 kids, and then when spring comes around, all of a sudden we start losing kids to commitments to other sports.”

Bustschle, who was appointed athletic director at Sto-Rox in the spring, said it is important for coaches to share athletes from other sports.

“When I coached at Sto-Rox, you had to share athletes. At Seneca you also have to share athletes,” Bustchle said. “There are guys playing on that basketball team that can definitely help us, and football guys that can help them.”

Bustchle sees other athletes at other schools playing multiple sports, but he doesn't understand why things should be different in Seneca Valley.

“I went to a Seneca Valley-Central Catholic (basketball) game, and I looked out and all five starters at Central Catholic were football players,” Bustchle said. “If I went down the list of our 10th, 11th and 12th grade roster, we had zero basketball players, which is horrible.

“We have a lot of great athletes at our school who don’t play football. We’re missing kids who can help us on Friday nights who can’t show up because of summer commitments.”

Bustchle said outside circuits like AAU and the tendency for kids to focus on one sport are here to stay. He said he believes multi-sport athletes aren’t playing football because outside coaches are telling athletes to focus on one sport, something he disagrees with.

“I've coached dozens of Division I players and players who went on to play in the NFL, and every one of them played multiple sports,” he said.

Aliquippa Football coach Mike Warfield says skills from other sports can be applied to the football field and he encourages his players to be versatile.

“Playing multiple sports really helps athletes on the court,” said Warfield, who led the Quips to WPIAL and PIAA Class 4A titles last fall. “I saw DJ Walker really play basketball. Khalil Fields, too. To see how competitive and aggressive they were on the basketball court, I knew that would translate to soccer.”

Walker is a freshman safety at Ohio and Fields is entering his third year as a safety/wide receiver at Aliquippa.

Warfield also believes that young players need time to relax, especially in the summer months when there are fewer school commitments.

“They need to have time to be kids and play other sports,” Warfield said. “You don't want them to look back and say, 'I wish I played basketball or other sports.'

“At the high school level, how can I as a high school coach open my mouth and try to dictate to a kid to play a certain sport? How can I tell Cameron Lindsey he can't play basketball? Who does that at the high school level? That's selfish and so self-centered.”

Lindsey will be a freshman linebacker at Pitt this fall after leading the Quips' football and basketball teams to PIAA championships as a senior.

Other notable Aliquippa football players, such as senior running back Tiqwai Hayes, have also played multiple sports.

“I feel like playing other sports helps a lot,” said Hayes, a Penn State staffer. “For example, track has helped me get that speed that I need so much, and playing basketball has helped so much with explosive lateral movement and, obviously, being a corner and playing defense in basketball. So it’s really similar.”

Warfield added that playing multiple sports teaches players how to fight through adversity and be determined to achieve goals.

“I always tell the guys if they want to play another sport, do it,” Warfield said. “Competing all year round is important. It's a mindset and that translates to the field.”

Scoop Smith, a junior at Woodland Hills, is a three-sport athlete. He plays basketball and runs to improve his skills on the football field.

Smith, who won the 100-meter dash at the WPIAL championships this spring with a time of 10.64 seconds, said his sprint training has led to success with the Wolverines' football team.

“I feel like every sport I play helps each other. There is so much that goes into certain sports that a lot of people don't understand because they've never played before,” Smith said.

“The track speaks for itself, just because of my speed and quickness, because that's what makes me who I am in basketball and football. Basketball is a matter of great endurance, where you don't get breaks like in football. Balance, footwork and body control are important things in basketball that help football. Football is simply a tough sport. You have to have a different kind of heart, and I feel like my heart makes me who I am in everything I do.

Smith said that every sport he plays has a purpose. He approaches each sport with the same intensity.

“You could be bigger, faster and stronger than everyone else, but you have to show me that you are bigger, faster and stronger than me,” he said. “I just take that with me when I do anything in life. Basketball, athletics, even if I played tennis. That is something that will always stay with me.”

Tags: Aliquippa, Seneca Valley, Woodland Hills